Lukas von Dalca
'History' Lukas von Dalca was born Lysander Pateras in the Greek city-state of Sparta in the year 443 B.C.; only son to Pleistoanax--then king of Sparta. As a boy Lysander was rightfully the first prince of the war-torn city state. Although he was exempt from agōgē (being the Spartan prince) he chose to work and fight alongside the other Spartan boys as they trained for military service. Lysander found that he had a great aptitude with bladed weapons and javelins during this time. The time of Lysander's existence in Sparta was one of brutality and rigorous exercise. It seemed to many that the Second Peloponnesian War was eminent between the democratic city-state of Athens and the mighty Spartan empire that had taken control of the region since the First Peloponnesian War when Lysander's father led the city-state to great victories. When he turned fifteen Lysander was allowed to participate in his first battle; an experience he found both pleasurable and enjoyable. Unfortunately, Lysander's existence did not last quite thirty years as he was killed in a later battle of the war by a group of Thebian traitors. Thus ended the life of the Spartan Warrior Lysander... to give birth to the life of the mysterious vampire Lukas von Dalca. Lukas has no recollection of the events that brought his corpse to the Necromanteion on the banks of the Epirus river. Being dead tends to numb ones senses to the point of non-existence after all. What Lukas does remember is waking up in a cell of hellish nightmares: a stark, near-empty, stone-walled room filled only a wooden table, a gilded silver goblet, and a single, dying candle. Lukas had heard tales of this place, but had quickly dismissed them as fables befitting only beggars and madmen. A quick test of the stone with his fist taught him that he was most certainly trapped in this room, but more than that caused him to notice that the sword he had believed to have bisected his abdomen as he killed the last of those damned Thebians seemed to have left no wound. Had he simply dreamed death itself? Imagined the light taking flight from his eyes just as quickly as the blood poured from his gut? No... the single etching on the far wall told him that he was very much dead: a coiled serpent that seemed to move across the uneven gray surface of its own volition (he had to look twice to make sure he was not dreaming). Surely a place like this could not exist in any mortal plane. More so than that, if he knew anything of the gods he was dealing with then the candle before him was representative of his time to make a move... a decision... but what? The goblet. Of course! He rose to his feet as quickly as his body would allow, but his movements felt sluggish; his limbs numb. Stumbling to the table and all but collapsing on the nearest edge Lukas discovered that the goblet was filled with a thick, viscous liquid. He could not quite make out the color in the low candlelight but he was suddenly very aware of a growing thirst in his throat; the kind of itchy dryness that came only after hours without water. It seemed that as the wick of the candle fell so did his own health...and though he knew not the consequences it would bring Lukas reached for the silver goblet with a trembling, weak hand and lifted it to his chapped lips. The pain was excruciating, but Lukas could not lower the goblet from his throat any more than he could reject the liquid once he had begun. The thick, red liquid was something Lukas had only tasted once before: human blood. When the goblet was drained entirely of its contents, Lukas fell from the table; his heavy arm easily shattering the nearest leg to tinders as he doubled over in pain. It seemed as if every cell in his body was suddenly cast into a boiling pot of water. Vampire Lineage Forthcoming Class: Elemental Knight Forthcoming